Houston Astros

Date of birth: November 7, 1944 in Martins Ferry, OH

Date of death: October 27, 2006 (61)

High School: Bridgeport HS (Bridgeport, OH)

College: West Liberty University (WV)

Location: Spring Training Posed.

First Impression; There are two things that I recall about Joe Niekro. What I always considered to be a fourth grade haircut spilling out the sides and bottom of his cap. And the emery board.

Career stats: He had a very good career with a 221-204 record. Only 122 players have won over 200 games. Paul Skenes debuted in 2024 and was the 23,201 player in ML history. So Joe did something less than 1% of players that played did (understanding the majority of players in the league arent pitchers). So to attempt to close this loop, about 1/3 of the historical players are pitchers. That would narrow the list to 7,656. Using that calculation, Joe Niekro and his 200 win club members have done something only one and a half percent of pitchers have done.

He’s not flashy, he was a knuckleballer, I ran a query on stathead, for pitchers that pitched from 1969 to present, all pitchers with more innings pitched than Clayton Kershaw. There were 59 pitchers. 8 300 game winners including his brother Phil. Sort those pitchers by strikeouts to walks and just ahead of Mike Torrez who was nearly a 1 to 1 in a career that lasted almost 500 games is Joe Niekro.

All time stat: 1.36 strikeouts to walks. So yeah theres that. He walked 1230 batters and struck out 1670. Fellow Knuckleballer Charlie Hough is just behind him. A symptom of living with and dying with the unpredictable knuckler. Niekro also only struck out 4.4 batters per nine innings which was 4th worst, with the overall worst being Tommy John whose elbow only got him 4 strikeouts per nine.

Fun fact: He didn’t start throwing the knuckler until 1973 which was 4 years into his career. He was an All-Star in 1979, won the World Series with the Twins in 1987. He is still the Astros all time wins leader, ahead of Roy Oswalt by 1. Don’t go celebratin’, he did it in 94 more games and had 34 more losses.

Ever a Future Star?  He was a “Rookie Star” in 1967. In 1968 it looks like he is reading the menu board at McDonalds with a suspiciously looking airbrushed hat on.

Rookie or final card? No

Hall of Fame? Number retired? Houston Astros Hall of Fame. They have retired Mike Scott’s number. I know his numbers are a tad better but not by much. Nobody is catching Niekro in franchise wins any time soon. For the record his number was 36.

His eligibility has not run out on the worst hair in a hat Hall of Fame. I think they vote every 45 years. Hey 1970 Joe, you think one day your shorn locks will spill from your brow like so many beers that got kicked over in the Astrodome?

Lemme think about it. Hmmm. Hey 1974 Joe, any “that looks like a clown’s wig” do’s in the near future?

yeah, I think I see some bad stuff brewing, you better just get to it.

Links to stories including Joe Niekro.